Artist of the Week: Surreal Landscape Illustrations by Jonas De Ro

Jonas De Ro is a London based Belgian concept artist that was born and raised in Gent, a small Flemish city. In 2009 he graduated his masters program in traditional animation from the Royal Academy in Fine Arts but he chose not to pursue a career in this field, choosing instead to work as a texture photographer, providing various game and film studios around the world with his work.

Just after graduation, he worked as a visual effects artist with brands like Schweppes and Perrier and as illustrator for big names like Budweiser Budvar, Square Enix and Radical Publishing, Inc.

He picked up illustration during his travels as a texture photographer by starting to make detailed landscapes of surreal landscapes and urban scenery in his down time. He published these works in the famous online art community DeviantArt.

He was discovered in 2011 by the Wachowski brothers, of Martix trilogy fame, and was hired to work as a concept artist for their science fiction productions. Since then, he has worked with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, including Warner Brothers, Legendary Pictures and Wizards of the Coast.

His work in cinema can be seen in movies like the critically acclaimed Cloud Atlas, where he was both working as a concept artist and as a visual effects concept artist, as well as in the 2013 movie The Book Thief (again, as concept artist) and in the TV series Judge Dredd: Cursed Edge, where he is credited as a matte painter for the first episode of the series. At the moment, he’s working on Jupiter Ascending as a concept artist. His current employer is MPC.

Other previous employers of his have been Studio Babelsberg, Digital Tutors, Fox Filmed Entertainment, and CGTextures.

We have selected Jonas De Ro for an artist highlight because of the beautiful landscapes he depicts. All of his images, be they regular landscapes or sprawling cityscapes plagued with urban decay have a surreal, wispy, attribute to them that really makes them stand out from the rest.

His tool of choice for these beautiful images is Photoshop and he has some tutorials on how he creates them over at the Digital Tutors website.

What follows is a selection of our favorite works by Jonas De Ro. Scroll down and enjoy!

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Jonas De Ro is a London based Belgian concept artist that was born and raised in Gent, a small Flemish city. In 2009 he graduated his masters program in traditional animation from the Royal Academy in Fine Arts…